RECIFE, Brazil – As scientists have tried to solve the medical mystery behind the surge of babies being born with devastating birth defects in Brazil, they’ve pieced together evidence that the mosquito-borne Zika virus may be to blame. But in northeast Brazil, many residents have fashioned a rival theory: That the defects are caused by […]
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“Chasing Heroin,” A Two-Hour Special, Premieres Feb. 23 on FRONTLINE
by explainingmedicine June 10, 2016FRONTLINE Investigates America’s Heroin Crisis in a Searing Two-Hour Special Chasing Heroin Premiering on PBS and online Tuesday, February 23, 2016, at 9 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. CT pbs.org/frontline/chasing-heroin www.facebook.com/frontline | Twitter: @frontlinepbs #ChasingHeroin Instagram: @frontlinepbs | YouTube: youtube.com/frontline Tumblr: frontlinepbs.tumblr.com America’s heroin and opioid crisis has been called the worst drug epidemic in […]
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As heroin and opioid abuse has spiked in the last few years, conversations about addiction have moved out of the shadows. On Tuesday, in Chasing Heroin, FRONTLINE goes inside the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history, tracing the lives of addicts, investigating Big Pharma’s unprecedented push to popularize opioid painkillers, and examining radical new approaches […]
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The nation’s opioid epidemic has come up repeatedly in the 2016 race for the White House, and for good reason. In 2014 alone, more Americans died of a drug overdose than in any other year on record. Nearly half of those deaths – around 29,000 – involved some type of opioid — like heroin. The […]
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RECIFE, Brazil — One evening last March, infectious disease specialist Dr. Carlos Brito picked up his phone and sent a message to a group of his colleagues. He’d been seeing patients with a rash, swollen joints, and a slight fever – symptoms that were similar to the dengue outbreak he had recently been treating, but […]
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Last week, in advance of the premiere of Chasing Heroin, we asked the FRONTLINE audience to share their stories about heroin and opioid addiction. What role has it played in your life? And what do you wish people understood about the problem? Below are some of your responses. We’ll continue to update this page as […]
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Drug Czar: Treating Substance Abuse as a Crime is “Inhumane”
by explainingmedicine June 10, 2016In 1988, Michael Botticelli woke up handcuffed to a hospital bed, injured, and under arrest for causing an accident while driving drunk on the Massachusetts Turnpike. A judge gave him two options: Seek care for his drinking problem, or go to jail. Today, 28 years later, Botticelli is not only sober, but helping to shape […]
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As a judge in Washington, D.C. in the ’80s and ’90s, Eric Holder says it didn’t take much to tell that the nation’s criminal justice system – especially when it came to low-level drug offenses – was “fundamentally unfair.” “I had these mandatory minimum sentences that I had to impose on people who had drug […]